Resale Value, Prestige, Name Recognition, Aesthetics, Inclusion, and Exclusivity
How important are these (and any others you can think of) against pure performance of your Audio equipment?
Given that sometimes these traits sometimes (but not always) intertwine with pure performance, What's most important to you?
Dre
honestly; there was a time when i cared about those issues; back in my Linn CD-12/Mark Levinson/Wilson days. and i loved those products; but i did get security from the iconic nature of recognized brands.
in the last 10-12 years, almost every product i've purchased has been either the first of it's kind, or very very early in it's lifespan. speakers, preamp, amps, tt, arms, cartridges, digital player, power conditioning, power outlets, even cables (both power, interconenct, and speaker). so no market or reputation had been established for any of these products. i would say that the amps were not quite as early in the product cycle as my other products, but still quite early.
the exceptions have been my Rockport tt, some of the vintage tt's i owned, some tonearms for those vintage turntables, and my RTR decks.
i will say that aesthetics has always been something that i appreciate, but build quality was more important. however; performance has been way more significant to me than anything and the fact that these products took performance to new levels for me was the big attraction.
i still use most of those 'new' products (or one's in the same family) and still consider them on the cutting edge of performance. so i'm happy with my approach to gear selection.
i suppose that i've ignored the issue of 'exclusivity' from the list which most of my early adapter purchases have resulted in. and i admit that i liked that aspect of those purchases but that issue was not a driver for the decisions.